School Mufti day but only if you bring a tombola prize?????

[karise]

Am a right to feel like I'm being taken for a ride?
School christmas cards, teatowels etc fine. Then we have a choice. But nobody wants their child to be the only one in school with their uniform on for mufti day so we all go along with it like twits
It just feels like mass bullying to me or am I being over the top?

So should the school cancel all actiities because some families can't or don't want to pay?

Would that enrich our society?

I think it depends on the school, Stealth. Ours buys books out of its own funds, but the PTA finances things like playground equipment.

I don't think many PTAs seriously expect each parent/child to attend or contribute to every single event. The idea (as I see it) is to have a variety of ways to contribute so that people can give as much as they choose to.

Having said that, I do see that some parents feel under a lot of financial pressure, and that PTAs should be sensitive about this.

I never said they should cancel all activities. I was pointing out that I think £98 in the 2 weeks before Christmas is too much money. They made, according to the school, £40,00 last year from fundraising. Surely if a parent can't afford to pay £3.00 for their child to go to see a panto with the rest of the class, then the school could contribute?

Some activities are clustered becaue they are seasonal. If you object to too much at Christmastime, then it is the same as saying cancel them (bah humbug).

Everyone knows that there is more on at Christmas, so it is a no-brainer to know that you should, if able, to budget accordingly.

Is it?
I don't recall saying ban everything, I hardly think saying it's a no brainer is constructive do you? Yes Christmas is a busy time but why should there be 3 film nights in the space of 3 weeks,? Why should children whose parents, for whatever reason can't afford the £3.00 per child have to miss out on pantos? it's all very well saying budget accordingly, but for some people that isn't an option.

Actually saltire, your school does sound a bit grabby. Our PTA funds the class parties (so no contribution from parents expected), and there's no way we'd be expected to pay for attending the Christmas concert - there'd be an uprising. And having the Christmas 'shop' as well as the Fair... it does sound as though they're piling it on a bit.

You can say that the film nights could happen any time - not just close to Christmas.

But if whoever is sacrificing their own time to run these events is asked not to do at this time, it is the same as saying cancel.

It's what it all comes down to - political ccrrectness.

If people could freely admit that they opted out because they couldn't afford something, it would make life much easier.

We are not just talking a few pounds for poorer pupils. It happens at all levels. We have an event at our school this coming week - very high pressure to attend - it is £8 per person (students/parents/staff), and goes directly to our school's school in Burma. I don't feel that DD and I can afford to go, so we are giving it a miss (and it will be a loss for us).

Knowing when to draw the line is an important lesson for children. We can't let them grow up thinking that they can do everything wehenever they want, and if they do want to enhance their opportunities, they have to work for them.

I must be being incredibly thick here squeakypop, I don't see what you're getting at?

You ask me if I want all film nights cancelled,and I say but I feel that its too expensive, then I say that my 2 don't attend them. Your the one who keeps saying about cancelling them, not me. I just expressed a concern for how much money my sons school was expecting parents to pay out. There is the option of not going, but to tell my sons "I'm taking you out of school on this day, this day, this day and this day becasue it's W,X,Y and Z and we can't afford it" is a bit much to ecpect people to do.

Do these things take place in school time then, saltire? In curriculum time?

Some of them do, Policy. The sale and the panto and the christmas production and the Christma dinner and class parties. The rest happen after school or in the evening

So how much are you pressurised into paying because it's during the school day? And how heavy is the pressure?

I'd say that's really off. Don't know whether it's the norm for other schools, but we'd never put on an event that children were expected to pay for during school time. I'd complain to the head. Far too much pressure on the parents to pay up.

squeaky the way that schools are funded is worked out in a rather complicated formula and it serves some schools but not others.

My present school seems to be financially comfortable and its financial management is very strict which helps.

But my previous school was just seriously underfunded, we had a very high ratio of children who came with very comples needs, who demanded a high staff ratio. We could not afford to staff our school never mind all the other stuff. We had members of staff working 5 days and being paid for 4, refusing to take TLR money as they knew the school did not have the money. One of my classes needed some books and I had to buy them out of my own money.

I think £3 for a panto visit means its already been heaily subsidised which you should be grateful for.

Skip the film nights if you begrudge going, but the party and performance most schools do so you know each year the events are coming up.

Some schools work opposite ways, our trips are subsidised at all, we pay full for trips but dont get charged to see the xmas play. Panto is £12.

Ringfencing is another issue, you can get huge amounts of money for new buildings. But try and get new books, a teaching assitant, or god forbid a teacher you are fucked.

Schools have also been hit very hard by rising utilitiy bills. My old school had to get rid of a teaching assistant to they could pay the water bill.

My state school kids have loads of things that they are expected to pay for during school time. This week, we have had to pay £4 per child for a visiting author.

I can understand off-site visits where there is a transportation and admission cost.

I am pathologically badly organised and often miss the paymment deadlines so my kids really do miss out, even though we can afford the coppers that are required. Fortuantely, they do not dwell on their misfortunes.

It is much easier in the independent sector when everything is added to the bill (not daytime things in school, though).

We had a letter about a panto visit yesterday, and it was for £24. If you are being asked for only £3, count your blessings.

Hmm, this is interesting (well it is if you're avoiding work, like I am ) - just goes to show that schools operate in very different ways I suppose.

Our school never has paid-for stuff in school time. We have paid-for trips, but they've covered by termly contributions that work out at about £15 per child, and parents can pay those by weekly instalments if it makes it easier for them to budget.

I thought this was the norm. If it's not, then I'm rather impressed by our head's attitude.

has never bothered me.......and the few times mine has gone in Mufti but forgotten the 'payment', they have never been told off for it......in fact, I would be surprised if the teacher noticed who forgot seeing as they all just go in filling the box on their way.

tis bigger things to fret over IMO.

£3.50 is way too much for a film night with snacks on top to pay for!

We charge £2.50 which includes popcorn and a drink and we have about 100 children watching 2 different films and we make around £250 per film night.

It can be difficult to be on the PTA and tbh I would like a list from the HT to say how the money is being spent as it does feel like we work and work and work and do not see a lot at school.

We have funded for an outdoor theatre at school and also the playground equipment and I think we are paying for football kit but as we handed over £16, 000 in September I would like to see what we are paying for.

What would happen if schools just did teaching and stopped taking the kids to pantos, hiring people to come in and speak to or entertain them, etc etc?

Do people think this would make schools better or worse places?

what on earth is the big deal? The tombola prize will be used at a school PTA event to raise money to support your child's school.

YABVU

But is it not flawed economics in some way to raise relatively little money in relation to the amount of effort involved? When there might be other ways?

For example, we wanted to have a fashion show at our school to increase profit margins per hour of parental labour, but the god squad fundamentalist evangelical Christians who dominate the governing body and PTA vetoed it on grounds of exploiting children and encouraging vanity.

So we are back to bloody bake sales at the school gate once a week, even though cakes are now confiscated from children's lunch boxes due to the school's new 'healthy eating' policy. To me this is daft even though I quite like baking. And to second previous comments, my cakes are so nice they are all swiped by the godsquad PTA committee for a pittance before they even get on the frigging stall. Something is very wrong here.

I would really like the PTA to do more than perpetual amateurish fundraising, and do things like really engage with educational and social issues at the school, to do with the children, but somehow we don't seem to be good enough for that.

Boffin for some kids it would not matter if it all stopped, although there is something very magical about doing it with your school friends.

But too many kids would never experience any of these things if schools did not provide it. I once went on a residential trip with some kids from my old school and was shocked at their lack of table manners but it should not have been a surprise as they never ate at the table with their family never mind been to a restaurant.